Quilled Cross Ornaments

Quilling is a great craft. It's inexpensive and easy to learn. The projects you make can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be. This simple quilled cross ornament is a great project for people who are totally new to quilling. Affiliate links below. 

 

Quilled Cross Ornament

Materials:

• white cardstock
• Taylored Expressions Big Cross die
• white quilling strips (5 mm)
• quilling tool
• craft glue
• paperclip

Steps: 

Cut four crosses from white cardstock. You will be using one whole cross plus three extra borders for each ornament. 

Glue the borders, one at a time, on top of the base cross. You’re forming a barrier that will hold the quilled shapes in place. 

If you are not able to find a die with a border like this (I wasn’t able to find this particular die for sale online to link to it), you can glue a quilling strip on its edge to form the border. This is the more traditional method for quilling. You can use that technique for any shape, which makes it a lot more versatile. 

Now start quilling rolls. You can make loose or tight curls, teardrops, marquise shapes, or a combination of them. As you complete each roll, glue it in the cross. Continue until the entire area is filled. 

You can get completely different looks depending on what rolls you use to fill the cross. The cross on the left has a variety of shapes arranged symmetrically, while the cross on the right has a single shape in different sizes. 

Open a paperclip to make a hanger. Attach it to the back with hot glue or a piece of tape. Your ornament is ready to hang on the tree or to display anywhere in your home. 

Quilled Poinsettia Card ... and a Winner!

I had the quilling supplies out the other day, so I whipped up a quilled poinsettia card. It's a really easy beginner project with only three shapes you need to learn. 

If you've never done quilling before, you need to know that when it comes to quilling there is an easy way and there is a thrifty way. If it's just going to be yourself or a small group, spend a little money and go the easy route. If you're going to make this in a classroom or other large group, you'll probably have no choice but to go thrifty. In the materials list below, the first item is the easy option and the second item is the thrifty option. These are affiliate links. 

Quilled Poinsettia Card

Materials:

• cardstock OR construction paper
• quilling paper OR colored copy paper
• quilling tool OR round toothpick
• precision tip glue OR white glue
• reverse tweezers OR normal tweezers

Steps:

Start by cutting red cardstock or construction paper into the size of card you want. Cut a piece of white cardstock or construction paper that is slightly smaller in both directions. 

If you have quilling paper, you're ready to go. Otherwise, you need to use a paper trimmer to cut the copy paper into long, narrow strips. I like 3 mm. strips, but you can do 5 mm. or other sizes. Warning: this is tedious if you're making enough for a class of 32+ students. Make plenty of extras and do your best to make sure the strips are uniform. 

Use the quilling tool or the toothpick to make the following shapes: 6 green teardrops, 8 red teardrops, 1 yellow loose circle, and 7 yellow tight circles. 

Glue the loose circle to the center of the white paper. Arrange the green teardrops around the circle with the points facing out. Lift them one by one and glue them in place. (This is much easier to do with reverse tweezers and precision-tip glue. Otherwise, use a toothpick to apply glue to the shape as you hold it with ordinary tweezers or your fingers.) Arrange the tight circles close to one another on top of the loose circle. Glue them in place. Place the red teardrops around the yellow center, then glue them down. 

Adhere the white paper to the red card blank. 

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Time to announce the winner of the Orange Art Box giveaway! Congrats to:

Barbara, please send your mailing address to cindy.mycreativelife at gmail.com and the December Orange Art Box will be on its way!

Quilled Cactus

This quilling project is inspired by the stuffed cactus I made last year. This post contains affiliate links. 

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Quilled Cactus

Materials:

• white cardstock
• copy paper (green, yellow, pink)
• microtip scissors
• 1" heart punch
• 3 mm quilling paper (green, yellow, pink)
• quilling tool
• fine-tip craft glue
• reverse tweezers
• mini easel

Steps: 

Cut the white cardstock to the desired size for the background (mine is 4.25" x 5.5"). Cut a trapezoid from the yellow copy paper to make the front of the pot. Cut a curved arc the same width as the top of the trapezoid to make the back of the pot. Use the green copy paper to cut out the cactus. I did one large oval and two smaller ovals. Glue these to the cardstock background. 

Punch a heart from pink copy paper and glue it to the pot. Now it's time to start quilling. Begin by outlining the main part of the cactus in green, then outline the arms. Add two vertical ribs. Outline the pot with yellow. 

Now fill in the cactus with a combination of loose circles and other shapes. If you look closely, you'll see I used some teardrops and a marquise. There's no right or wrong. I didn't glue anything in until I'd completely filled the area. Once I liked how it looked, I used reverse tweezers to remove one circle at a time so I could add glue and return it to the correct spot. 

Finally, use pink quilling paper to make 6 tight circles and a heart. Glue the circles next to the arms and the heart directly over the punched heart shape.  

Display your design on an easel.

Once you know the basics of quilling, you can apply them to literally any design you'd like to make. 

Quilled Card - Home Sweet Home

I've been quilling recently. Unlike scrapbooking or kids crafts that I do fairly consistently throughout the year, I tend to do a couple of quilling projects all at once, then ignore it for a year or so. I'm hoping to work on it more regularly, because I really do enjoy it. My latest project is this Home Sweet Home card.

There are affiliate links throughout this post. I earn a small commission on any purchases you make after clicking a link, at no extra cost to you.

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Home Sweet Home Card

Materials:

• cardstock (white, green, yellow, brown, and brick)
• scissors
• tape runner
• 1/8" wide quilling paper (green, yellow, brown, brick, and grey)
• quilling tool
• fine-tip craft glue (See that tiny bottle of glue? I use those for quilling. Apparently they're not sold in packs anymore - I've heard these needle-tip bottles are great, but I've never tried them)
• toothpick

Steps: 

Cut a piece of white cardstock to make a card base. If you want your card to have a printed, stamped, or hand-written sentiment on it, like my example above, do that now. Otherwise, your finished card will look like this. 

Glue a rectangle of green along the bottom of the cardstock to make the grass. Add a yellow house with a brown roof and brick red chimney. 

Place a piece of yellow quilling paper next to the right side of the house. Make a fold where the side of the house meets the base of the house. Move the paper along the base and make a fold where the base meets the left side of the house. Continue until you have folded the yellow paper three times and it perfectly surrounds the house. Snip the excess paper. Put a thin line of glue just along the edges of the yellow cardstock and lay the quilling paper on end around it.  

Cut two small strips of green quilling paper so that they fit on either side of the house. Glue them in place. 

Fold a piece of brown quilling paper and trim it to form the roof. You do not need the third side to the triangle, since there is already a piece of yellow quilling paper there. Glue it in place. 

It is important that the glue you use dries clear. As you can see below, a small amount of glue is showing after I glued down the roof. 

At this point, I used the toothpick to clear away the excess glue as best I could. It dries clear and you'll never notice it if there's just a small amount. 

Fold a piece of red quilling paper to form the chimney. Again, you don't need the fourth side, since it's already there in brown. 

Finally, use the quilling tool to make three grey hearts, each slightly smaller than the previous. Do this by folding a small piece of grey quilling paper in half, then using the tool to roll each side in toward the center. Pinch the bottom of the paper and you have a heart. Glue the three hearts to make the smoke coming from the chimney. 

Obviously, you can change out the colors and proportions of the house to match the recipient's house. Put the card on a blue background if you wish, or paint a sunset for the background and do all the quilling in silhouette. There are so many possibilities. 

Quilled Mother's Day Card

Mother's Day is coming up. Skip the purchased card and make your own! This is an easy card a child can make for Mom, Grandma, or a godmother. 

Quilled Mother's Day Card

Materials:

• cardstock (lavender)
• paper trimmer
• quilling paper (pink and purple)
• quilling tool or toothpick
• white glue

Steps:

Cut the cardstock to make a card base. 

Start with the heart. Fold a pink strip in half, then use the toothpick or quilling tool to quill each end in toward the folded point. Adjust the heart to make it symmetric. Add a tiny amount of craft glue to the edge of the heart and attach it in the center of the card.

To make an M, fold a purple strip in half. Fold each end to make the peaks of an M, then use the quilling tool to shape the ends. Repeat to make a second M. Glue the M's on either side of the heart. 

Colonial Quilling, Love Cards, and Inspiration from the Beatles

Valentine's Day fell on a Tuesday, the day I teach social studies to Trevor's fifth grade class. By happy coincidence, it was the day I planned to teach quilling, which was common during the colonial era. We added a bit of a Valentine's Day twist to our craft projects by creating quilled valentines for our families. 

I gave each student thin strips of colored copy paper, a toothpick, white glue, and construction paper, then demonstrated how to make the basic rolls and scrolls. I showed several examples, including the rebus valentine. And then I set them loose to create.

  

Look what this lucky mama received. My sweet boy.

 

Trevor said that even though my initials are CMJ, he chose to make CMd. He tried a J first but didn't like it. 

Trevor's teacher wanted some samples to show future classes when she teaches quilling, so I used some of the shapes I made when demoing to the class to whip up some cards for her. They're similar to ones I've shared on the blog before, with the exception of this Beatles-inspired card. Affiliate links below. 

All You Need is Love Quilled Card

Materials:

• red cardstock
• white cardstock
• paper trimmer
• black paper
• red paper
• quilling tool or toothpick
• white glue
• black pen

Steps: 

Cut the red cardstock to make a card. Cut the white cardstock slightly smaller than the red and adhere it to the base. 

Cut three 5 mm. wide strips fro the black paper and one strip from the red paper. Quill two of the black construction paper strips into loose circles and glue. Quill the red construction paper strip into a heart. 

Bend the third black construction paper strip to form a U, then fold to give it right angles. Trim it to size, then glue it to the black circles to form music notes. 

Write "All you need is" toward the bottom of the card. Glue the quilled heart next to it. Glue the music notes above it. 

Add a message inside. 

Quilled Rebus Valentine's Day Card

Want a quick, easy and unique Valentine's Day card? Try quilling this rebus! Affiliate links below. 

Quilled Rebus Valentine's Day Card

Materials:

• cardstock (white, black)
• paper trimmer
• copy paper (white, blue, red) or precut quilling paper
• round toothpick or quilling tool
• craft glue

Steps:

1. Cut the cardstock to make a white card base. Cut a white rectangle that is approximately 1/2" smaller in both directions than the base. Cut a black mat that is 1/8" bigger in both directions than the white rectangle. Adhere the rectangles to the card base. 

2. Use the trimmer to cut the copy paper into strips approximately 3/8" wide. You'll need one red strip, one white strip, and two blue strips. 

3. Start with the heart. Fold the red strip in half, then use the toothpick or quilling tool to quill each end in toward the folded point. Adjust the heart so it is symmetric. Add a tiny amount of craft glue to the edge of the heart and adhere it in the center of the card.

4. Use your fingers to curve a blue strip into the shape of a U. Trim the ends so that the U is the same height as the heart. Add a tiny amount of craft glue to the edge of the U and glue it to the right of the heart.

5. Use the toothpick or quilling tool to make a tight circle with the second blue strip. Trim the end so that the circle is a size you like. Before removing it from the quilling tool, glue the end in place. Then slide it off and set it aside.

6. Use the toothpick or quilling tool to make a loose circle with the white strip. Remove it from the quilling tool, then glue the end in place. With your fingers, pinch both sides of the circle simultaneously to form a marquise. Manipulate the center portion with your fingers or a toothpick to make a big enough opening for the blue tight circle to fit inside. 

7. With the blue circle still inside the white marquise, add glue to the back of both pieces, then place them to the left of the heart. 

cardstock (white, black)

Quilling with Friends

My friend Kristen is a librarian.  She recently asked me about teaching low-cost scrapbooking and/or crafting workshops at the library.  I immediately thought of quilling.  It's easy to learn, extremely inexpensive, requires very few materials, and is unfamiliar to most crafters.  It would be the perfect craft to teach.

Kristen had never heard of quilling, so I invited her and our friend Kelly over to my house for brunch and quilling.  I pulled out the materials from the quilling workshop I taught two years ago and we got started.  It literally took less than 5 minutes of instruction before they were off on their own, trying each shape and eventually putting them together to make quilled works of art. Quilling really is a great craft for beginners.

Kelly's first project was copying one of my sample pieces, one of the cupcakes you can see here. This is Kelly's:

Next Kelly made a cute flower:

Kristen started with a flower:

Next she made an angel:

I made an owl:

Both Kelly and Kristen loved quilling.  Yea!  Kelly commented on how relaxing it is.  I completely agree!  Kristen is gung-ho to have me teach a quilling workshop at the library, which sounds like great fun.  Local friends - I'll let you know when we have something scheduled if you'd like to join us!

Quilling 101

Last weekend, I taught a quilling workshop at a nearby fairgrounds. I've mentioned before that I am a judge for a local county fair. This fair, like just about every other around the country, has experienced a significant drop in entries over the past years. They decided to host a really cool event to try to solve this problem. They invited their judges and other local experts to demonstrate their crafts to teachers, Scout leaders, and 4-H leaders. The attendees would then go back to their organization to share new project ideas with the children they teach. The children will (hopefully) enter all these new projects in the fair. In addition to quilling, attendees learned woodworking, two types of stitchery, dollmaking, and photography. I heard great things about every workshop. 

In my workshop, I taught my students how to make a simple flower and a basic heart. I showed how they could be used on cards, gift tags, and placecards. Here are my sample projects:

Each person got a handout that told about the history of quilling and showed eight basic quilling shapes.

Everyone who visited my table seemed to really enjoy quilling. I'm optimistic that they will return to their organizations and share how fun, easy and inexpensive quilling is. I hope to see lots of quilling projects at the fair this year!

Special thanks to Jennifer, who assisted me during the workshop! 

If you are interested in giving quilling a try, it is a fun and easy beginner craft. You can cut your own strips of printer paper and do your quilling with a toothpick, or you can make it even easier on yourself by spending a few dollars on a quilling tool and pre-cut strips (affiliate links). Once you know the basics, you can make all sorts of cool projects. 

Tissue Paper Sports Logos (and other sports-themed gifts)

I've mentioned before that my 11-year old nephew Timothy is crazy about the San Francisco Giants. Trevor and I made several Giants-themed gifts for Timothy for Christmas, but since he reads my blog I didn't want to show them until now.

Here's the wall hanging we made for him. I love how it turned out. It's really easy to do.

Tissue Paper Sports Logo

Materials: 

• a logo (printed from the computer, mounted on cardboard, and cut into a circle)
• orange and black sheets of tissue paper 
• white glue

Steps: 

Cut the tissue paper into small squares. Mine were about 1" square. A paper cutter makes this step infinitely faster. 

Coat a small area of the logo with glue. Crumple up a tissue paper square and place it securely in the glue. 

Continue until you have completed one entire color.  It takes a long time. 

Repeat with the other color. Here's a side view of the completed logo:

This project was very easy (no problem for a 5 year old), but it was tedious. Trevor and I completed it in two 1-hour sessions.

We also made a Giants ornament for Timothy. We made strips of orange and black patterned papers and got out the quilling tool. 

Quilling was really hard for Trevor. Look at that furrowed brow.

Here's the finished ornament. I have photographed a lot of challenging items for this blog, but this might be the most difficult. Not only is it glass, but it is iridescent. This was the best I could do, but the photo doesn't do it justice.

Our final project was to make a Giants desk lamp for Timothy. I used exactly the same steps as I did for his Giants wastebasket, with one small difference- I made sure that I was not creating a fire hazard. I carefully chose a lamp and bulb that (hopefully) would not get hot and cause the logo to potentially catch fire. Before applying the logo, I left the lamp on for 3 hours to check how hot the lampshade would get. It was barely warm. I feel confident that the lamp is safe. 

Timothy loved all the Giants-themed stuff. Here he is opening his wall hanging. (It's hard to tell, but he is wearing a Giants shirt on Christmas morning. He's quite a fan.) More Giants projects to come? Maybe!